7. Recycle, re-use and avoid useless purchases. We throw too much away and still re-cycle too little of what we must discard. Large amounts of energy and water go into producing endless amounts of ‘stuff’, much of which we don’t really need or end up using. So be sure to use your local recycling service, for plastics, metals and paper. Try to get appliances and tools fixed rather than replaced – the carbon footprint of fixing things is far lower than making them from scratch. Avoid the temptation to buy useless trinkets and knick-knacks, just because it feels good to accumulate things. There are limits to everything, including, most importantly, the ability of the planet to supply people with an ever burgeoning supply of raw materials. Think sustainability.
8. Telecommute and teleconference. Do you really need to fight your way through traffic each and every day, just to sit at your office desk and work on your computer? Do you need to fly to a business meeting in another capital city in order to talk to your colleagues? Or can you think inventively and make best use of the benefits of the Internet to do some of this remotely? Telecommuting can be an effective way of doing ‘paperwork’ in your home office and more and more employers are seeing the benefits of this and embracing the concept. Teleconferences mean less wasted aeroplane trips, which create a huge CO2 burden. It can’t always be done, but even a few less trips, here and there, add up to make a big difference. As with the other 10 points, it is about making smart and informed choices when you have options.
9. Buy local produce. Food miles are now firmly part of the new carbon lingo. This is a way of expressing how far an item of food has travelled before it reaches your dinner table, and therefore how much CO2 has been emitted during freighting. A better concept is probably ‘embodied energy’, which takes account of all the carbon, water and energy that goes into producing any food or manufactured item. Either way, a good rule of thumb is that if you buy something that has been produced locally, it will usually have a lower CO2 tag attached to it. Your local fresh food market is a good place to start for your food shopping. Buying Australian-made manufactured and food products is another carbon-friendly option. Both will make a difference to your climate change impact, and help the local economy. Another win-win choice.
10. Offset what you can’t save. Avoiding the release of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, in the ways described above, is by far the best and most direct way or reducing our climate change impact. Yet some emissions are unavoidable. For those, offsetting is a worthwhile option. This is done by purchasing ‘carbon credits’ from accredited companies which offer this service, who will then invest those dollars in (for instance) renewable energy projects or planting trees. Carbon offsets should definitely not be seen as the solution, or as a relatively pain-free way to expel your carbon guilt. There is nowhere near enough offsetting potential in the world for this to be an option for most of the world’s population. But in conjunction with other methods of kicking the CO2 habit, offsets can help make a difference and allow you to pay a small penance